The curriculum at La Escuela Fratney is based on the standards for each content area.
School-wide Themes
Teachers will integrate the values, skills and content areas of the social studies curriculum into our four School-wide Themes – Temas Escolares at Fratney.
Social Studies Focus
The study of society is really what social studies means. It includes a wide range of topics. The MPS curriculum identifies 5 basic categories to help clarify components of our social studies curriculum:
- Geography
- History
- Civics and Government
- Economics
- Behavioral Sciences
Multicultural/Anti-racist Philosophy
In studying social studies through a culturally responsive lens at La Escuela Fratney, there are several points that educators and parents should keep in mind:
- In all aspects of social studies, multiculturalism and anti-racist perspectives will be infused. In a society as profoundly divided by class, race, and gender as ours, social studies for children must make reference to and encourage analysis of these divisions. Children are capable, based on their developmental levels, to begin to understand, analyze and act against these and other kinds of inequities and injustices in their world and society. We must, of course, present information and engage students in activities that are developmentally appropriate.
- Children learn best if content areas and curricular objectives are connected to their lives. Learning must be relevant. Given our diverse student population we have so many opportunities to make connections with students’ lives and build on their and their family’s knowledge and strengths.
- The development of critical thinking skills in children is a key goal of social studies curriculum. Students need to be able to “read” and understand their world and make independent judgments about it.
- Social Studies is taught through active learning at Fratney. While children need to memorize basic facts (e.g. they live in the City of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin) for the most part studying our society should be done in an active, experiential and exploratory way.
- Contributions of various ethnic groups, including all major geopolitical groups (African-American, Latino, Asian-American, Arab-American, Native-American and European-American) should be infused into the curriculum throughout the year with as many curricular areas as possible, including stories, literature, songs, holidays, geography, math problems, etc. At the same time we need to designate different areas of focus for different grade levels so that children are exposed to depth to all major cultural groups during their school experience at Fratney.